A Lovely Tuesday...

God is so incredible! This morning I woke up to my husband asking if he could hold me for a few minuets. We usually can't fall asleep cuddling, and lately we haven't been sleeping at the same times at all, so this was a really nice surprise, and it spoke my love language quite a lot!

Needless to say I got out of bed feeling very loved and grateful for a day off of school where I was healthy! 

Breakfast was Quinoa Oatmeal with Mango and Cinnamon:

Ingredients: 1/2 cup quinoa, 1/2 cup steel cut oats,1 cup boiling water, 1/4 cup cubed mango, a dash of cinnamon, a drizzle of honey, and a splash of almond milk (optional to add on at the end)                            

To make:

1. Bring water with quinoa already added to a boil for about 10 minuets (cover halfway with a lid)

2. Meanwhile cut up mango and mix with oats, cinnamon, and honey

3. When water is (almost!) gone, pour quinoa and boiling water (about 1/4 a cup) into the same bowl

4. Mix together and enjoy with some coffee! 

I took the bus to Starbucks for a date with my student's papers... They are very smart, but also very funny sometimes.... I choose to laugh instead of get frustrated with their antics; it's just easier that way :-) 

I also had a great egg, feta, and spinach wrap there for lunch! Which was very tasty and just what I needed to keep me warm with my hot mint tea. Then I began the 2 hour journey to go grocery shopping via CTA bus route, which was quite the adventure! I managed to get all of what I wanted to get, plus 2 honey greek yogurts, tomato soup, bananas, and 6 pink lady apples, all in my draw-string backpack and oversized bag. And I managed to get from the Beverly Starbucks to the Pullman Aldi, then to the West Pullman bus stop, all the way back to Roseland, and walk the three blocks to my house with only being asked for my number 3 times-- huge success!

When I got home, I had gotten a packaged from my mom with a pretty hot-pink mullet sweater (it's a thing, I swear...) a jury commission questionnaire (uh-oh!), and some throat-coat tea. What a nice surprise! 

After putting groceries away and warming up my numb feet (from the cold walk), I went ahead and got going with my Tuesday workout. I did these 3 videos, and even though the last one is only 10 minuets, it was defiantly the one that made me sweat the most...

So, God has really been wonderful! I'm about to shower off and get going on some whole wheat pizza dough for date night with my incredible husband tonight! I'll post that recipe for homemade pizza later... Have a blessed day!

Banish Fat and Boost Metabolism for your Temple

Hey Health-Nuts!

 I haven't updated you on my workout schedule and how that's all going because I've actually been really sick. I started off strong with my Zumba video (which some of you guys tried!), and then with the 60-minuet strength training DVD Slim and Lean, but then was kind of knocked out for a few days with an awful cold.

I am still recovering my voice, and my students tell me I sound like an old smoker, but hey!- I got through today's cardio workout without hacking all over, so I think I'm in pretty good shape.

I mentioned before that I have been off and on with Jillian Michaels; well, today I'm on. 

Check out her video:

I can safely say that I am drenched with sweat and feel pretty good after completing this. She also does some ab workouts, so you'll get that tummy toned up too.

My plans for the night: make a nice dinner and start on Romans again. I just finished Acts all the way through for the first time (can you believe it? I had never read it straight through!) I tweeted about this last week, but I totally think Acts would make a fantastic movie. Seriously; someone has to do it. I only wish there was a really good woman's role so I could play it.... Lydia maybe? Oh well :-)

Romans is a BEAST of a letter by the way! So it's a good one to start after a BEAST of a workout.

Your body is Christ's Temple, so treat it like the beautiful creation it is! Have a great night!

Steam is Clean

Lately it's been smelling like a sauna in my kitchen...

Weird right? It's actually not that weird. It's because I've been using my new Bamboo Steamer for cooking lately, and when this wooden basket heats up with steam, it really does kind of smell like those Bamboo saunas filled with hot air and steam.... minus the sweaty people of course.

Quite honestly, I don't know how I got along without one of these amazing things! They cook both veggies and meat so well, and it doesn't take constant stirring or checking on to make lunch. I can literally toss in my carrots and broccoli, go fold laundry or take a shower for 15 minutes, come back, and lunch is ready!

It's also very healthy for you too. Much healthier than microwaves, sauteing vegetables in oil, or even boiling vegetables in water.

Studies show that microwaving vegetables destroys a high percentage of its nutritional value, as does boiling vegetables in water. The nutrients just drain out of them! You might as well drink that water to get them back...

And of course, adding oil to vegetables adds unnecessary fat, which isn't always a bad thing. But if you're looking for a super-healthy way to get your veggies in, steaming is definitely the way to go!

Here's a great recipe I just had yesterday, and it was easy as pie to make!

Steamed Veggies with Chicken and Quinoa-Rice 

Ingredients:
1/2 cup red quinoa 
1/2 cup brown rice
5 cups water
1 thawed chicken breast
2 cups of chopped vegetables (I used baby carrots, broccoli, red pepper, mushrooms, spinach, and lentil sprouts)
Some seasonings of your choice

Steps to Make:
1. Heat 2 cups of water in a small sauce pan 
2. Pour in quinoa and rice into the water and bring to a boil
3. Reduce heat, and cover with a lid
4. Meanwhile, chop up veggies into large pieces (the larger pieces will allow the vegetables to maintain their nutrients) 
5. Heat another larger sauce pan with 3 cups of water and bring to a boil
6. Place the steamer on top of the boiling pot (if you don't have a steamer, you can use a colander with a lid over it)
7. Place the chicken on the steamer first, followed by the larger veggies, then the smaller ones (if your steamer has two layers, you can put the chicken on the bottom layer and the veggies on the top layer)
8. Allow to steam for 15 minutes, turning the chicken over halfway through
9. Sprinkle chicken and veggies with seasoning
10. Spoon rice and quinoa mixture into a bowl
11. Cut chicken into strips and mix into the same bowl
12. Top with steamed veggies
13. Enjoy!

Workout Update!

I know this is my second post today, but I wanted to update you all on my new workout routine.

Some of you read my past blog posts about my short workout attention span, and my new fitness plan. If you didn't, you can still probably use what I'm posting, but you might want to go catch up with your reading...

Anyways, today I started it! I woke up at 5:30am, changed into gym clothes, jogged over to my computer, hit the play button on youtube, and proceeded to sweat bullets while dancing.

This was the Zumba class I took this morning.

It was pretty good! It can really challenge those of you who are pro-dancers or are used to doing hip-hop or latin dancing for your exercise. But it's not too difficult that a beginner can't follow along pretty easily. I think it helps that he goes over the steps very specifically so you don't get lost. However, since I've taken my fair share of Zumba classes before, I already knew most of the Zumba moves, so reviewing them was a little unnecessary, and it only lowered my heart rate. I tired to skip over the instruction, but it was a bit annoying. That was the only down side! Otherwise, it was a pretty good workout!

Oh, by the way, you will need a little space for this one, so make sure you have a big living room to jump around in! 

Also, their British accents a kind of adorable :-)

Enjoy!

Eating Healthy, Eating the Rainbow

Today's post is inspired by the cookbook Color Me Vegan. It's not, however, exclusively for my vegan friends. Never fear! Meat-eaters who want to make sure they are getting enough of the right vitamins and minerals will benefit as well.

So, how can color impact your health? 

Well besides the emotional and mental effects that colors have on us (blue=peaceful, hot pink=energized, exc. ...), colorful fruits and veggies, according to the book's author, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, can spark creativity and aid in your general health.

She tells us that "choosing contrasting colors (in your meal) can encourage creativity and inspire your inner artist". And indeed, if you check out her recipes, they are all kinds of colorful and artistic-looking!

But let's use our left brain to get a little technical:

There are several health-protective phytonutrients (google that word if you need to :-) in the deeply colored fruits and veggies we can choose from. Here are a few important ones and what they do for us:

• Beta-Carotene helps bolster your immune system.
• Alpha-Carotene helps to stop the development of liver, lung, and skin cancer cells in your body.
• Lycopene has been linked to reduce the risk of prostate and lung cancers.
• Anthocyanins assist in combating cancers cells and diabetes.
• Resveratrol and Flavonols aid the health of your heart.
• Lutein helps to prevent cardiovascular disease and protects your eyes from cataracts and macular degeneration. 

"Riiiiight.... but how do I know I'm eating those things?"

Here's a list compiled by Keri Gans, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, about what kinds of foods you can be on the look out for:

• YELLOW: yellow bell pepper, table queen squash (Beta-Carotene)
• ORANGE: Carrot (Alpha-Carotene); yam, pumpkin (Beta-Carotene)
• RED: Tomato, watermelon (Lycopene); strawberries (Anthocyanins)
• BLUE: blueberries (Anthocyanins); concord grapes (Resveratrol)
• GREEN: spinach (Lutein), kale, broccoli (Flavonols/Lutein)

Hopefully this will give you some ideas about how to incorporate these colorful fruits and veggies into your diet, or at least help you understand the importance of eating a variety of colored foods.

If you're interested in learning more about different benefits of consuming different colors, I suggest you check out Colleen's book! You might enjoy it, and it might spark some creativity into your diet!

My Workout Routine

This is how I started off my workout routine planning. 

*Sigh*

You know you're a teacher when you use graphic organizers and color coded diagrams in your daily life...

Anyways...

I have been true to my word! Well, not about falafel (still working on that), but definitely about the workout routine. I have designed a system that I think can work for me, busy schedule and all, and I hope it can work for you too!

I started off by gathering all my materials, which included all of my workout dvds, my computer downloads, websites, and my crossfit at home program, plus the mental list of things I do that aren't in video or paper format.

From the picture above, I hope you can see that I divided the components of my workout into 3 categories, some of which overlap or intersect one another. The three categories are: Cardio, Strength, and Yoga/Pilates. I then put all of my materials and resources into one or two of these categories, then I decided how many times I wanted to work each category a week. I also drew from what I knew about fitness from my Fitness Instructor job, as well as what other professionals advised.

I decided that, by following the ACE Fitness recommendations, I should get at least 2.5 hours of weekly moderate-intensity aerobic activity, exercising a total of at least 5 hours a week, with at least 75 minutes of weekly vigorous or intense physical activity. ACE recommends that you incorporate strength-training for at least 2 days a week.  

Then I examined what I enjoy doing at this time of year, during this season (because now we all know how short my workout attention span is). 

From this, I concluded that I should devote 3 days of the week to 20-60 minutes to Cardio, 3 days of the week to 20-60 minutes of Strength-Training, and 2 days of the week to 20-60 minutes of Yoga/Pilates. 

Some of you may be thinking, wait, 3 days of cardio, 3 days of strength, and 2 days of yoga or pilates? But isn't that 8 days a week?

The thing is, like the first picture indicated, many of the workouts I like to do and will be doing overlap in both areas! So we kill two birds with one stone, in a manor of speaking.

Now, because I don't like assigning days of the week to one single workout routine that never changes, this program will allow me to pick whatever workout I want to do for each day. But the only trick is, at the end of the week, I will have had to meet all of my required days and minutes for each category. 

Example Schedule:

Monday: Cardio and Yoga Day

40 minutes of Running

20 minutes of Yoga

Tuesday: Strength Day

Slim and Lean 60 minute video

Wednesday: Cardio/Strength Combo Day

30 Day Shred 30 minute video

Crossfit Circuit: 400 meter sprints, lunges, sit-ups, pushups 

Thursday: Strength Day

P90X Total Body Challenge 40 minute video

Friday: Cardio Day

60 minutes of Zumba (youtube videos)

Saturday: Pilates Day

3 Poppilates youtube videos (60 minutes)

The only thing I will have to pay attention to is what muscles I am working when. In this example schedule, the strength videos are working all major muscles, but I might choose to superset some weeks and work muscle groups which support one another (abs and back, or biceps, triceps, and shoulders, chest press and back, legs and arms). Whatever it is, it's important to be sure that some muscles are getting neither overworked nor neglected.

I plan on setting up a fitness journal of sorts, where I can check off each category/day and record what exercises I did when, and mark improvements.

I'll let you know how this all goes. Treating your body right is directly tied to eating healthy, getting enough of the right types of exercise, and also drinking water and sleeping enough! So I'll keep you all posted on how all of those components are working together. 

I hope that this workout routine both helps me stay on track as well as provides enough freedom and change to keep it interesting and fun! I also hope it helps to inspire you! 

What workout routines work for you? What is holding you back from finding a plan that works for you?

Workout Attention Span: New Plans

Hello again!

So far this has been a strictly cooking blog, but I since fitness is a huge part of my life, and a huge part in keeping our bodies a temple, I thought I'd share these thoughts on fitness with you...

First of all, I am a former Group Fitness Instructor. I worked at ISU's Student Fitness Center for almost 3 years and taught yoga, cycle, group strength, boxing body sculpt, water aerobics, and pilates. I also worked for Gold's Gym for a short time and taught an H20 Challenge class for strength conditioning in water (I must admit I added a little Aqua Zumba in there sometimes too!).


Now that I do not have a job that conveniently allows me to work out and get paid, my working routine is going through a lot of.... transitions.

At the end of my student teaching I had suddenly had a lot of free time on my hands before starting my job with STEP-UP, and so I decided I would do the P90X Challenge. (Tony Horton is actually not too obnoxious) I had my schedule all set and I knew exactly which muscles I was going to work on which days. It was perfect. Just get up, look on the calendar, and do the work.

Only then I got a nannying job that I had to take due to financial reasons, and I was up to my eyeballs in screaming children for a week. My workouts didn't happen... and then STEP-UP started, and as did my frantic job-hunt and interview process. Then we went on our anniversary vacation, then on to a family trip to Colorado, then I got my job, and we house-hunted for about three very hectic days, then BAM! pack, move, get ready to start teaching!

It all happened so fast and we were constantly moving around and going different directions that I couldn't follow any schedule whatsoever- not even a sleep schedule!

So then I started my job and a week later we went on strike. Things just got crazier from there.

Anyway, my point in all of this is I had a hard time finding a solid work-out routine that works for my lifestyle and schedule. I often stay up late to work on projects and I live in a neighborhood where it's not exactly safe to go outside running in the dark (early morning or late evening). Truth be told, I have never been one of those people who can do the same yoga tape everyday and run the same course everyday (cough*mymother*cough). I have to change it up and make things interesting, other wise, I totally loose motivation.

I started off on a great track working with Jillian Michaels on her Ripped in 30 video, which was pretty cool for a 20 minuet workout! But to be honest, Jillian kind of gets on my nerves sometimes: she acts tougher than she is and I'm all like "You know Jill, you really don't need to put on a show, I just wanna sweat and listen to the music". So I got board of her quick. Her 3-2-1 workout intervals get old...

Then I got on this kick of running in the morning, despite the craziness of my neighborhood. I did that for a while, but then it got super cold, and I'm sort of a wimp when it comes to the cold. And there was a shooting at around 5:30am not too long ago that sort of scared me....

Quite honestly, I wanted to go to a gym. I don't workout as well at home. I don't have a lot of equipment and I like actually carving out the time and going someplace else. And to be even more honest, I really really really (like really) wanted to go to a Cross-Fit Gym. I love the concept of fitness classes (since I was an instructor for 3 years), and I love Cross-Fit's philosophy on personal training, camaraderie and pushing yourself past what limits you think exist.

But let's face it: I don't have $180 a month to spend on a gym membership, no matter how insanely ripped I get from it. So I found some resources for doing a Cross-Fit-style workout at home! This has been going well for me. It only takes about 15 minuets a day, and I time myself and record my weights each time I do a set. (Not gunna lie, it took me a while to do 100 pushups...).

But I've run into a problem... I'm bored of it. Also I've been sleeping in late... well, till 6am. In order to workout and have my Bible time, I usually need to get up right at 5, but staying up late grading papers and working on student data (or writing blogs...) will make that difficult.

So I just got this dvd by Jari Love called "Slim and Lean", which is part of her "Get Ripped!" series. Quite honestly, when it came in the mail, I was kind of hesitant. I didn't think I would like it. But I do!

Jari is just the kind of Fitness Instructor I was: clam, simple, intense, but still friendly. A lot of my co-workers were those happy, cheesy, peppy types like Denise Austin or Richard Simmons. But Jari is encouraging, but not over-talkative like Rich. She's tough, but not putting on a show like Jillian. And she's no-nonsense; she doesn't smile incessantly like Denise.

Anyway, I just did this workout and it's exactly like a strength and conditioning class that I might take at the Rec. Jari counts your reps by sets of 8 just like Group Fitness Instructors do in Fitness Classes. It's kind of like taking a fitness class in your home!

My workout attention span seems to be extremely short... but currently I am loving this dvd. I hope it lasts...

What I'm thinking is that I just need to do a different dvd/Cross-Fit workout/yoga routine/running route everyday so as not to get board. So, over the next few days, I'm going to be designing my own at-home workout schedule consisting of Cross-Fit, P90X, running (yes, in the cold), group fitness-style classes, Jillian's 3-2-1 series, power yoga, Pilates, and something I found a few weeks ago called Blogilates.

So. My thought is this: I will design this workout plan for myself, then post it (for accountability's sake and incase you all want to join me in this experiment). Sound good?

Good.

Oh, and please comment if you have any tips for keeping your workout routine fun and interesting. I'm sure we all could use a little of that :-)